introduction

hi im jennyand very new to posting on forums and stuff, i started meditation with this free trial 2 months ago or so and im quite happy with the results so far, my only problem is that i am still smoking and it drives me up the wall. i wanted first of all to smoke less, which i did with the help of lifeflow within a week, i came down from about 30 cigarettes a day down to 5, but now im back up to 10 a day and i get so frustrated that there is no easy way out, eventhough i know i need to recondition my mind. the one minute im sitting reading quite passively and the next i find myself reading with a cigarette in hand, i dont even know how and when i lit it.

how pathetic can i be and i dont want to go cold turkey either as i am working in a shop and deal with lots of people in a day, please help someone

When you have a craving for a cigarette, notice that feeling, allow it to be there, welcome the feeling and then watch with curiousity to see what happens with the feeling. Whatever happens with the feeling let it happen. When a feeling is accepted and not resisted it will often dissapate.

Ekhart says that if a bit later you find yourself lighting up then that is OK - dont resist what is happening there either. Just keep practicing this exercise, keep observing the feelings and allow to feel them with complete non resistance.

the one minute im sitting reading quite passively and the next i find myself reading with a cigarette in hand, i dont even know how and when i lit it.

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Many years ago my father tried to give up smoking (several times, actually.) He was eventually successful in his attempts, but I'll never forget what he related to me one time that drove home the point of what creatures of habit we are.

He said that he would be doing great, not smoking and not really having too hard of a time with the cravings until he went out in the morning to start his truck to go to work. And then for reasons he couldn't understand the cravings would hit him until it was almost unbearable. And there were a couple of other times throughout the day when this would happen as well.

What he found was that there were certain times during which he had always smoked, or certain places where he always smoked. Getting in his truck to warm it up each morning was just such an activity. It was a trigger for his smoking urge. Though he wouldn't have known the proper terminology, what he was really describing was a form of neuro-programming. Every morning when he went out to start up that truck he lit up his first cigarette of the day. Over a period of many years this association between starting the truck in the morning and smoking a cigarette had literally burned neural pathways within his brain, like learning to walk as a child. A toddler just learning to walk has to pay strict attention to every move they make in order to make the legs go to the proper place at the proper moment and keep the body balanced over its center of gravity all at the same time. If their attention wavers even for an instant they fall down.

You and I walk without even thinking about it because those neural pathways are so ingrained into our brains that walking seems "natural" to us. In fact if you do consciously think about walking when you get up to walk somewhere it will feel awkward to you. That's how strong this neural pathway has become. Exactly this was what had happened to my father with regard to smoking. Those associations with smoking and activities or smoking and particular places had become so well trodden that they seemed "natural".

I'll bet this is exactly what is happening with you when you find you have a cigarette in your hand and weren't even aware of putting it there. Part of the solution is to force yourself to maintain an awareness all the time. Just like trying to remain aware of walking now as an adult, remaining aware of your smoking triggers will feel "awkward" to you, and that's a good thing. It keeps you centered on your goal of quitting. It forces the brain to lay down new, healthy pathways.

I would also recommend you find and use some kind of systematic approach to quitting. A program like LifeFlow can be of great assistance to you, but all by itself it's unlikely it will bring you to the point of quitting. Find a method that feels right to you for quitting and follow it, and use LifeFlow as a way of enhancing that method. You'll probably find that works best for you.

I have given up smoking heaps of times so I am a bit of an expert, ( some people might not agree) sometimes only for a few hours, sometimes a few days, sometimes a few weeks or months, even for over a year and one time for over five years, but alas I would return to my addictive habit.

The innitial giving up, the nicotine addiction, what most people find hardest lasts only for about 3-4 weeks. So if you can manage that long the battle is practically over and it becomes much less of a problem.

First thing is you have to want to give up, go through all the reasons why; bad for my health,bad for my friends/childrens health, waste of money, waste of time,I want to live long enough to enjoy my grandchildren, sick of burning holes in my shirts, etc. etc. etc. etc. Convince yourself and your mind that thats it I've had enough I definitely want to/have to give up and set a date.Now for me I go cold turkey, you may want to go through a cutting down period first but when your ready set a date.Nicotine patches can be incorporated in the process of quitting by using strong ones at start and reducing the strength as you go.

On that day you will have to be vigilant and remind yourself of all the positives of your decision.Try not to dwell on it too long though, when you get the urge to light up have a glass of water and get involved in doing something, anything, to take your mind off your craving. Now that intense feeling of wanting a durrie only lasts a short time, maybe a minute, so you have to keep you mind sidetracked for that long for the craving to subside. By the time you have finished doing what you started doing as a diversion you no longer feel like a smoke thus you have won the first skirmish; the whole process will have to be repeated next time the urge arises!! Surprisingly the urge does not return as often as one would think. Having the glass of water is like a substitute and gives the feeling of fullness plus it helps the body in flushing out all the toxins that have accumulated from smoking all those disgusting cancer sticks!!

Somethings you do are associated with smoking; after a meal ,with a cup of coffee,while your drinking alchohol, after smoking a joint, after sex,while driving the car, etc. etc. etc. etc; you will know what they are; so if you can refrain from some of these activities for the first 3-4 weeks it might help, if not just be on you guard during those times.

O.K. so your doing quite nicely in your quest, you have had you moments but you have remained strong and not given in and you can start to see light at the end of the tunnel and it feels like you might just be going to beat this rotten curse.Beware of the mind!!! It can throw a few furphys at you. Like it might say to you "wow I have done so good maybe I can have just one cigarette as a reward," or "maybe if I have just one cigarette it won't matter and I can stop again". This is dangerous teritory, do not listen to any such temptations for if you do have just "one cigarette" then just "one more" and "another one" will surely undo all the good work you have achieved.

After the first month you will pretty much have it beat, you will very rarely get the urge , nothing like you used to before you gave up. Once in a while this strange desire or you find yourself reaching for someone else's packet.As before just be aware and don't surrender to the desire.Dodge the feeling and get active, it will pass.

The nicotine addiction is over but a psychological addiction will linger for quite some time.The nicotine addiction is the harder to deal with and the psychogical addiction is more subtle but can still come back to haunt you.
I find it somewhat easy to give up but find it harder to stay given up.Something about it I miss maybe like an old friend.But in the end I have to recognise it for what it is, a habit that will do me in before my time.That's my oppinion anyway.

So jenny hope you can find some help from my experinces,and good luck.I am a committed non-smoker again.

ya I was a smoker too and "quit" so many times I just got real angry at myself for being full of %?&* when I told people I was quitting. i would see it in their eyes....oh sure..
Anyhow I focused on doing light weights (dumbells) daily and just fixed the glaze out the window...on the wall..sort of like in a trance..

On the approach to quitting I thought of a closet. I thought if I continued smoking what physical "space" would all the cigarettes fill over time. Going back to the closet I then thought it would be possible to perhaps fill that closet at a point in time. I then tried to imagine all of those cigarettes being "processed" through my lungs.....all that tar (like the stuff on the roads that we step in on a hot day...),

On the approach to quitting I thought of the thing that we all hate "our tax dollars being pi&*ed away" so if I quit I would then be (for if one takes a tally of cigarette tax dollars paid over many years) a "tax dodger" ....ha, ha, sit back and be smug that they will not get that extra big chunk of money from this guy.....

On the approach to quitting I made a deal with my (much, much better half) that I could keep track and put away $2 a day to a "no guilt" amount that I could spend on windsurf equipment (we don't get many awesome windy days along the Ottawa river valley so family cash going to that sport is a tough sell)...........I never spent that sum over time but i did buy a carbon boom

I have now been 12 years plus (although I had 2 times that I "fell off" and smoked about half a cigarette after too much beers...the next day my breath was )

Anyhow, hope this little post gives a few ideas ...hope it is of some value

I have struggled with my tobacco addiction for many years, and started smoking AGAIN about a year ago after 3 very happy years as a non smoker. Now I have to go through the stopping all over again !

I have recently come across Steve Polansky's "Cognitive Quitting" method (just google it) - it looks really good and your meditation practice will complement his approach, which encourages a lot of "mindfulness". The other good thing, is that it's free. I will definitely use his method when I next psych myself into taking the plunge.

I obviously left a "back door" (Steve Polansky's terminology) open when I started smoking again last time, so its really important to set your motivation and know yourself well.

Scruffles hi, I am Riannon and used to smoke a long time ago. What worked for me is to condition my self to consiously engage in activities that discouraged me from smoking.
First of all I did not tell myself ok now you quit cold turkey, I told myself I challenge you to not smoke today and to my surprise it happened. When I had craving usually with my morning coffee I switched to tea until I was ready again. No bar hopping for 6 months, movies was ok, no smoking there. Don't go all drastic but little changes. My biggest one is to get up and do dishes by hand after my meals so that I couldn't hold a cigarette. The most important thing don't tell yourself I'm done forever or you will fight you decision. Baby steps is all it takes. I do hope you make it it is absolutely amazing to walk up several flight of stairs without huffing and puffing. Believe me you will feel healthier immediately. I wish you good luck! I'm here if you need help.

A lot of the psychological triggers that the others have mentioned are very good. Take it a step further by meditating on it but this time, after you are relaxed and in a good place use one of the techniques of neoro linguistic programing (NLP). Build a scene in your mind that is a comfortable and safe place of your choosing. Make it as graphic as you can by noticing or placing each item in the scene, much like building a set for a movie. Place your self in the scene talking to yourself or another person that you trust, could be fictional or real. Dicuss your emotions around the smoking but don't judge yourself just recognize what your thoughts and feelings are. Now develop no more than 3 affirmations, stating in the present tense that which you would like to accomplish in the future as if it has already come to pass. You will slowly come to some realizations about yourself and your "relationship" with smoking as well slowly begin being drawn to the person you want to be. The affirmations will help "re-program" your stimulous response mechanism.
Physilogicaly, when you are tempted to smoke, during one of your trigger actions that you associate with smoking, practice deep belly breathing to accomplish two things. The first is that part of the phsycal aspect of smoking is the full inhalation or deeper breathing you do with inhaling. This fulfills your bodies need for oxygen. Secondly, the deep belly breathing will help relax you as well as help satisfy your bodies need for deeper breaths. You will gain greater mastery of yourself and the smoking. Eliminate one trigger event at a time. Don't try to change everything instantaneously and you will slowly take control and eliminate your unwanted behaviours.

I really like the smoking cessation trigger action plan you mention that links with the deeper breaths of the action of smoking. I wish I had had advice such as this back in the day when I finally quit the cigarettes.....

Be the worst reformed smoker you can be...in a nice way of course....hahaha.

I quit when I was 27 for 9 years cold turkey I did it on my birthday as a birthday present to myself

I started again when I got into a relationship with someone and I got them to quit for 2 years....but then I caved....we tried to quit together several times.

The last time I quit was on my 45 birthday...I used CHANTIX. It is a drug that blocks the cell receptors from allowing the nicotine to attach to it ...thereby not allowing you to become addicted to it anymore. That work for me with no side effects, many people do get side effects from Chantix so it may not be good for you.